OSHEAN marks 15-year anniversary

By Elizabeth W. Lorenz PBN Staff Writer

OSHEAN, an Internet service provider offering carrier-class optical transport, advanced IP-based networking and cloud solutions for nonprofit, government and community organizations within the state, celebrated its 15-year anniversary on August 20.

NORTH KINGSTOWN – OSHEAN Inc., an Internet service provider offering carrier-class optical transport, advanced IP-based networking and cloud solutions for nonprofit, government and community organizations within the state, celebrated its 15-year anniversary on August 20.

Since the organization came into being in 1999, OSHEAN – which stands for Ocean State Higher Education Economic Development and Administrative Network – has installed more than 500 fiber-optic miles in the region and has enabled more than 125 local institutions to provide research, improved health care services, classroom instruction and life-safety upgrades, according to a release marking the anniversary.

The Beacon 2.0 network is one of OSHEAN’s crowning achievements over the past 15 years. It is an optical transport network consisting of a 450-mile fiber optic cyber infrastructure that connects more than 100 institutions, including the state Data Center, 25 colleges and universities (in Rhode Island and Massachusetts), 39 school districts, 16 library facilities and three hospitals. The Beacon 2.0 project began in 2010 and it cost more than $32 million to build.

“In our first 15 years, we oversaw the deployment of one of the most powerful and capable broadband networks in the country with the Beacon 2.0 network,” said Dave Marble, president and CEO of OSHEAN. “As we move toward the future, we have our sights set on new goals that will continue to deliver outstanding results for our member institutions while also becoming increasingly agile as an organization. Simply put, we can’t wait for what’s next.”

The goal of OSHEAN is to provide more access to a variety of information services to the economic development, education, government, health care and training sectors, while also increasing productivity and efficiency of operations.

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